The Evolutionary Innovation of Nutritional Symbioses in Leaf-Cutter Ants [PDF]
Insects, 2012 Fungus-growing ants gain access to nutrients stored in plant biomass through their association with a mutualistic fungus they grow for food. This 50 million-year-old obligate mutualism likely facilitated some of these species becoming dominant ...
Frank O Aylward +2 more
exaly +6 more sources
Biomineral armor in leaf-cutter ants [PDF]
Nature Communications, 2020 Biomineral armour is known in a number of diverse creatures but has not previously been observed in insects. Here, the authors report on the discovery and characterization of high-magnesium calcite armour which overlays the exoskeletons of leaf-cutter ...
Hongjie Li +13 more
doaj +6 more sources
Leaf-cutter ants – mycorrhizal fungi: observations and research questions from an unexpected mutualism [PDF]
Frontiers in Fungal Biology, 2023 Leaf-cutter ants (LCAs) are widely distributed and alter the physical and biotic architecture above and below ground. In neotropical rainforests, they create aboveground and belowground disturbance gaps that facilitate oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange.
Michael F Allen +2 more
exaly +4 more sources
Evolution of self-organised division of labour driven by stigmergy in leaf-cutter ants [PDF]
Scientific Reports, 2022 Social insects owe their widespread success to their ability to efficiently coordinate behaviour to carry out complex tasks. Several leaf-cutter ant species employ an advanced type of division of labour known as task partitioning, where the task of ...
Viviana Di Pietro +5 more
doaj +6 more sources
Developmental biomechanics and age polyethism in leaf-cutter ants [PDF]
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2023 Many social insects display age polyethism: young workers stay inside the nest, and only older workers forage. This behavioural transition is accompanied by genetic and physiological changes, but the mechanistic origin of it remains unclear.
Frederik Püffel +5 more
europepmc +5 more sources
MSystems, 2021 Lipids are essential to all living organisms, as an energy source, as an important cellular structural component, and as a communication tool. In this study, we used global lipidomic methods to evaluate the lipids in leaf-cutter ant fungal gardens.
Lily Khadempour +2 more
exaly +5 more sources
Leaf-Cutter Ant Parasitoids: Current Knowledge
Psyche: A Journal of Entomology, 2013 This review updates and summarizes the current knowledge about the interaction of leaf-cutter ants and their parasitoids by providing comparable data for Acromyrmex and Atta ants.
Patricia J. Folgarait
doaj +5 more sources
AntTracker: A low-cost and efficient computer vision approach to research leaf-cutter ants behavior
Smart Agricultural Technology, 2023 Leaf-cutter ants play a crucial role in agroecosystems, and understanding their behavior is key to developing effective damage control strategies. While several tracking solutions exist for ants in controlled environments or on aerial images, accurately ...
Julian Alberto Sabattini +2 more
exaly +3 more sources
Symbiont-Mediated Protection of Acromyrmex Leaf-Cutter Ants from the Entomopathogenic Fungus Metarhizium anisopliae [PDF]
mBio, 2021 Many fungus-growing ants engage in a defensive symbiosis with antibiotic-producing ectosymbiotic bacteria in the genus Pseudonocardia, which help protect the ants’ fungal mutualist from a specialized mycoparasite, Escovopsis.
Gaspar Bruner-Montero +5 more
doaj +2 more sources
Enrichment and Broad Representation of Plant Biomass-Degrading Enzymes in the Specialized Hyphal Swellings of Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, the Fungal Symbiont of Leaf-Cutter Ants. [PDF]
PLoS ONE, 2015 Leaf-cutter ants are prolific and conspicuous constituents of Neotropical ecosystems that derive energy from specialized fungus gardens they cultivate using prodigious amounts of foliar biomass.
Frank O Aylward +14 more
doaj +2 more sources